HE may still be willing to loan a valuable vintage motorcycle to the makers of one of the nation's favourite police dramas, but Dick Craven had a few choice words for the real boys in blue after the disappearance of his prized bike.

His rare BSA A10 - a regular in Heartbeat, ridden by Nick Berry when the show first hit the screen - was stolen from outside Mr Craven's home at Stockton-on-the Forest, near York, where he also runs a small motorbike museum.

Fears that the 1950s police bike may have made its last bow on TV were dispelled when the much-loved machine was found in Leeds on Friday.

But Mr Craven hit out at the police response and said officers were more concerned about catching speeding motorists than locating stolen property.

The drama unfolded on Wednesday when two men approached Mr Craven after he returned from filming on the North Yorks Moors. They asked if they could use nearby fields to run dogs.

However, the request was a ploy to check out his property and, when Mr Craven's back was turned, they stole his van with the bike in the back.

The vehicle was later spotted in Bradford but vanished by the time police arrived.

However, when it was spotted again in Leeds on Friday, Mr Craven sped there himself - and claims he arrived half an hour before the police.

"Someone who had visited my museum recognised my van and thought it was strange so they gave me a call," said Mr Craven. "When they realised it had the stolen bike in the back, they said they would let the vehicle's tyres down to stop the thieves making a quick getaway and it was still there when I arrived.

"However, it was another half an hour before the police got there, which was no good at all.

"If I hadn't made the journey myself, who's to say the thieves wouldn't have come back and driven off again?

"The police seem to be happy enough to catch you speeding but recovering stolen property doesn't seem to be as high on their list of priorities."

Inspector Paul Johnston, of West Yorkshire Police, confirmed officers were busy with other incidents, including four road accidents, two robberies and a series of burglaries. "On this occasion, we didn't have the manpower to respond to a recovered vehicle as quickly as Mr Craven would have liked, but did our best in the circumstances."

A motor caravan stolen from a garage at Showfield Lane, Malton, between 10.30am and 11.20am on Monday was later recovered in Leeds.

Updated: 11:48 Wednesday, April 14, 2004